Taiwan furious after 85C Bakery Cafe bows to mainland backlash over gift bag for Taiwanese president
US branch’s gesture to Tsai Ing-wen while she visited Los Angeles prompts calls on mainland for boycott, then company statement endorsing ‘One China’
The Taiwan government has spoken out in defence of a Taiwanese bakery chain that came under pressure from the mainland after one of its US outlets presented a gift to Taiwan’s president, Tsai Ing-wen, during her stopover in Los Angeles on Sunday.
Following demands for a boycott on its mainland stores, 85C Bakery Cafe said it supported the 1992 Consensus, a political term embodying the “One China” policy, which says that there is only one China, but that Beijing and Taipei can have their own interpretations as to who is rightfully in charge. Tsai herself has not endorsed the consensus.
“The company’s stance of firmly supporting 1992 Consensus has never changed,” 85C Bakery Cafe said in a statement on its mainland China website on Wednesday.
“The company would continue to support the peaceful development in cross-strait relations and deepened cross-strait communications and cooperation while opposing any behaviour and remarks that separate the brotherhood of the two sides.”
Watch: ‘One China’ explained